All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 208: Traders and Traitors

Unfortunately, the news about the army's arrival wasn't met with universal positivity. In particular, Susan was surprisingly upset about the development. Bee had never seen the woman break her cool like this before. The only thing that even slightly kept her in check was the fact that Void had made the decision itself. After Bee bore witness to the most vehement rant she'd ever heard, she could only watch, stunned, as the woman stormed out the meeting room door. Calls for her troops to assemble echoed through the halls as she left.

Tony winced in sympathy for those scouts, and Bee couldn't help but agree with him.

"Well at least she'll put all that energy to good use." Mary said with a frown. "I worry about her, sometimes. She really needs the stability we have here. It's hard to see that ripped away."

Bee frowned. Susan needed the stability? She was one of the strongest, most competent people that Bee had ever met. Trent apparently agreed with her confusion, chuffing at his wife's words. "That woman? She could chew on iron ingots and spit out nails."

Mary patted her husband's arm. "She had a rough upbringing and a hard life, dear. Everyone deals with it their own way, but she's certainly good at hiding it."

Suddenly, things clicked for Bee. She remembered when she and Tony had found Susan on the road, bleeding and limping back to the castle after escaping from this very army. The state she was in had been horrifying, to say the least. Her quick recovery and strong face made Bee tend to dismiss it, but thinking about it… of course, the woman would have an issue with the army coming here. Of anyone, Susan had the most right to be panicked about this.

Bee licked her lips and started to speak a couple of times before actually figuring out what she wanted to say.

"Do I... Should I go after her?" She asked Mary.

The older woman looked at her and frowned thoughtfully. "Hmm, I think it's best to leave her be for now, dear. I think she needs some time to vent and process by herself for a little bit. But you probably will need to talk to her. Maybe in an hour or two."

Bee nodded, processing. She had totally forgotten to talk to Arthur about Susan's presence, and it was obviously something he would need to address. She needed to find out the whole story from the commander's side, but there needed to be at least an attempt to make amends. She didn't want Susan to think that her own suffering meant nothing to the church, and she had to make it clear to Arthur that those methods would no longer be tolerated.

Thinking about it more, her opinion of Arthur took a sudden sharp hit. She sure hoped there was a reasonable explanation for the incident. But even knowing the man, she wasn't sure how that would be. It didn't fit her impression of Arthur at all to be so cruel and shortsighted. She could imagine him torturing a prisoner for information, but not without real reason. Certainly, not someone who was an ally, not without good cause. Perhaps she was just being naive, but she truly thought that.

"While I am concerned about Susan," Mary continued, "my larger concern is food. Now, I have heard that Bee said the army was fully supplied. But what kind of supplies are those? How long will they last? Will the soldiers be wanting our food? And how can we make sure that we're not too generous and run out of our own food while trying to service their needs? We need to set up some sort of official trading system.

"We've been running alright as a small community so far. But even now, we're starting to see gaps in our operations. Certain people have certain skills that are just in too high demand to meet everyone's needs. Take Cassy, for example." Mary and Trent shared a smile at the mention of their oldest daughter. "As wonderful as her pies are, she doesn't have time to make them for everyone. Even now she's put a limit on how many she makes each day, but she would honestly prefer to make less. She's actually not that fond of cooking, for the most part. But ever since your birthday, we've been getting requests for her pies nonstop."

Bee nodded thoughtfully. She had pretty much ignored half the lessons her father had beaten into her skull about supply and demand when she was setting up this church, and to some extent, that made sense. They were here for a greater purpose than their own self-interest. But would that be true for all the soldiers? Would that be true for everyone under her care? Probably not.

Plus, Bee really didn't trust herself to make all these decisions for everyone. She didn't even trust herself to find people who could make those decisions. As the number of people and their diverse talents grew, they needed to take a more hands-off approach to assigning work. "So… we need some sort of way for people to trade, or some sort of contribution point system," Bee said. "So that we can give rewards based on the work people do, and then they can choose where to spend those rewards."

Mary chuckled as Trent responded. "Yeah, that's called money. The only difference is that we would control the source of it rather than it being dug out of the ground as gold. That's basically what the king does with coins, at least."

All right. She supposed she deserved that. But one thing was still bothering her. "By the way, Mary, where did you learn all this?"

A slightly abashed look crossed the motherly woman's face. Trent busted out laughing. "Bee, you might want to check the library logs. You aren't the biggest bookworm here anymore. Why, for the first time I had to tell her to pay attention at family meals!"

Bee smiled at the thought of Mary trying to read under the table. "Okay. If we're going to implement some sort of currency system. How are we going to do that?"

They all looked at each other and shrugged.

—

The Warden picked up the piece of paper on his desk for the umpteenth time and read it over. It was a small scroll with three red lines painted on the seal that had long been broken. Despite his many readings, the slim roll wasn't even creased. But it was all he could do to keep from crumpling it in his hands.

He had mostly sent Harold out as a punishment and hadn't expected to see any real results from his investigation. The first Lieutenant he had checked up on was blessedly within those expectations. But the second one... That had the Warden up late at night feeling sick to his stomach. All his best agents were out in the field even now, looking for signs of the demon's passing.

The situation was intense. It was impossible to truly know what was going on. But if they could get some hint on where the Lieutenant was, they might be able to assemble a strike force with enough power to stop it. Maybe. He wasn't honestly sure. Somehow, the Lieutenant escaping up in the north had not caused any problems and hadn't been seen either. But he assumed that whatever other threat resided there was either involved or had subsumed the Lieutenant.

As it was, the Lieutenant that had escaped here was known for its legends of deception and illusion. That seemed to be confirmed with what Harold had found. The massive illusion was in place, making everyone who had been there for who knows how long convinced that the demon was still bound. Harold thought the demon had been gone for less than a month, but Warden wasn't sure how far to trust his judgment.

Though he was inclined to believe Harold, the man had always been amongst the more cautious of their order. If he thought that the timeline for the Lieutenant's release was not as bad as it could have been, it was likely more the case than if he had been exaggerating the danger. The Warden put the paper down carefully again and smoothed it out as he paced along the room.

But that wasn't the only issue, the only thing setting him on edge. Something was wrong. The kingdom had been changing recently. He wasn't exactly sure how to put his finger on it. The circle of advisors the King kept close to him had been meeting at their regular cadence, but the meetings had become actually noteworthy.

Normally, the King was content to just sit back and leave the management of the kingdom to his ministers. The only thing he really cared about was his next conquest. So much so that they had spent all last year preparing to seize part of Barleona in an elaborate double-blind military invasion the man had cooked up one night, all because he was bored.

But recently, the King had taken more interest in the proceedings. It was slight but noticeable. Not that any of the ministers thought this was a bad thing since their petty squabbles and power disputes always made it so that nothing really changed too much. While many didn't get their way and were upset about the status quo, the kingdom was being run, and generally, things were happening for the betterment of the people.

Sure, a few corrupt nobles had been rooted out, as were people who actively opposed the King's changes. But for the most part, the ministers were loyal to the country, even if they had competing interests. So, they were happy to see the King take a more active role.

What was less welcome was some of the political purging. Corruption was agreed upon as a cause to be removed, as negligence or dereliction of duty were poison. Yet some of the people removed from their positions didn't seem to fall into that group. They were just targeted, and no one could find a good reason for their removal.

And it wasn't even that they were being replaced with cronies of the King. Their spots were taken by people who were otherwise forgettable, minor lords who had no connection to the King whatsoever. And so far as the Warden or any of his allies could find, there was no evidence of bribery or improper favors done for the King in exchange for these positions.

Despite the hole these people represented in the Warden's mapping of the political web, one thing was for certain: each one of them showed absolute loyalty to the King. It was starting to make some of the more seasoned ministers sweat, even if they had served loyalty to the King and the kingdom for years. Would they be replaced on a whim, just as the others?

The perfect example of this was General Arthur. He had been up north and actually successfully defeated the undead invasion there, not to mention his long and decorated history as a commander. Yet he had been removed because there were reports of his involvement with the unknown threat up there. Not proof. Not even full reports of any sort of betrayal. Still, on that alone, the King had issued a warrant for his arrest and immediate execution, along with a detainment and questioning of the entire army.

That was one of the more foolish orders the Warden had ever seen, given there was really no way to enforce it. He couldn't see an entire army being captured, especially under that man. The order itself almost guaranteed a rebellion. He wasn't sure what the King was thinking.

The Warden moved to pick up the piece of paper one more time but stopped himself. Instead, he grabbed his cloak and headed out of the room. It was the more official one he used as his office when he was acting in his administrative adviser persona. Walking through the halls of the castle, he considered going to check on any reports from his network but decided not to. It would be better if he made a call to an old friend.

Gerald was the Minister of Finance and had been essential for any plan of the King's for the past almost four decades. If anyone could tell him more about what was going on with the King, it would be him.

The Warden had learned early in his career as an agent that following the paper trail was always the best way to find any evidence of official proceedings, which was why his organization took extra care to avoid such things. But he knew to take advantage where he could.

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